In a switch, Paul ignores the media

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa — Neglect by the mainstream media is so central to Ron Paul’s identity that his campaign uses it to raise money. But as his surging poll numbers in Iowa have drawn scrutiny to his incendiary newsletters, reporters are complaining that Paul is now the one ignoring the mainstream media.

It’s been hard to turn on cable TV lately without catching an interview with one of his competitors, yet Paul himself has been noticeably absent.

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Until booking a Friday night interview with Bloomberg TV, he had not done a single national media interview all week — a sudden drop-off that followed a string of testy interviews last week, during which CNN and Fox reporters probed him on his knowledge of the decades-old newsletters’ content. During one exchange, he appeared so frustrated with questioning by CNN’s Gloria Borger that he removed his microphone and walked away. His campaign contends the interview was simply over.

Meanwhile, national reporters on the Paul beat are grumbling that the candidate almost never takes their questions at events anymore and has done only one press “avail” since August — and that ended abruptly after two minutes last week when someone asked about the newsletters.

The tightened access to reporters is fairly typical for a candidate near the top of the polls bearing down on voting day. But in a half-dozen interviews with reporters assigned to follow Paul on the trail, journalists expressed frustration about how inaccessible Paul had become — particularly after his campaign’s loud complaints this summer about not getting covered.

“They’ve been sending out fundraising letters saying, ‘We don’t get enough coverage,’ but they don’t do media avails, and a lot of us reporters are frustrated,” said one Paul beat reporter who asked not to be named because the reporter didn’t have permission to talk to the press. “He had been answering reporter questions on his way out the door, but since he has been back from Christmas, on Wednesday, he hasn’t even been doing that.”

Paul campaign Chairman Jesse Benton denies that the campaign is dodging tough questions, pointing out that nearly half of the weeklong stretch without national media interviews was taken up by the holidays.

“We have had many requests, but Dr. Paul’s priority has been spending time with his family over Christmas and talking to Iowa and New Hampshire voters and press,” Benton said.

That stretch will end on Friday night, when he will sit down with “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” and more definitively on Sunday, when he will perform a hat trick by appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” ABC’s “This Week” and CNN’s “State of the Union.”

But campaign reporters are unlikely to get many more opportunities to ask questions. Paul will tape his appearances on these shows from his home in Texas, where he will be spending the weekend away from the campaign trail before the Tuesday caucuses.